Not too many years ago, Christian televangelists like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell made a habit of attributing natural disasters, pandemics, and terrorist atrocities to God’s wrath, because He was pissed off about some sinning by earthly political leaders.
Typically, the offenders were Americans who were offending the Almighty by supporting equal rights for women, LBGT, same-sex marriage, and abortion while opposing prayer in public schools, use of taxpayer funds to support private religious schools, and such.
Rev. Falwell, a co-founder of the conservative Moral Majority political organization, said that the AIDS epidemic was God’s punishment “for a society that tolerates homosexuality”, and blamed the September 11th terrorists attacks on LBGT organizations who had “angered God”.
Rev. Robertson claimed that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for America’s abortion policy and blamed the 2010 Haiti earthquake on its political leaders “pact with the Devil”.
Conversely, he called Donald Trump’s election victory in 2016 “a mandate from Heaven”.
The Rev. Falwell died in 2007, but his political legacy was carried forward by his son, Jerry Falwell Jr., who was a big Trump supporter in 2016, calling him “one of the great visionaries of our time”. In 2017, Falwell Jr. referred to Donald Trump as a “dream President for evangelical Christians”.
That is what makes 2020 so baffling.
One would think that God’s anointed President would be successful beyond measure. However, with God’s help (?), Donald Trump has managed to fuck up just about everything he’s touched this year, jeopardizing his re-election. His poor leadership and mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic in America has killed 210,000 people thus far and torpedoed the economy. His aggressive and divisive rhetoric has inflamed tensions in society, resulting in mass protests and rioting. And his self-centered behavior has infuriated national and international political leaders, whose support he needs to accomplish his goals.
What’s going on here? Has God given up on Donald Trump?
Could be.
After all, the 9th Commandment cautions the Lord’s subjects not “to bear false witness”. In other words, not to lie. God apparently cannot stomach liars.
It has been estimated by PolitiFact that Donald Trump publicly lied over 15,000 times in his first three years in office. God must be pissed, particularly since He had such high hopes for His chosen one.
And the Prez has put his lying mechanism into hyperdrive during this election year: he’s probably told 15,000 fibs on Covid-19 alone.
We all know what God does when He’s mad.
According to the Reverends Falwell and Robertson, He inflicts pain and suffering on people, like hurricanes, diseases, and hunger. Heck, one time He was so ticked off that He flooded the entire earth and killed everyone except Noah and his family.
Hell hath no fury…like the Heavenly Father when He’s in a bad mood.
Typically, the fundamentalist Christian community would interpret a simultaneous pandemic, economic collapse and rioting in the streets, plus California and Oregon on fire and multiple devastating hurricanes in the Gulf states to something that has offended God. But, surprisingly, we’re hearing not a peep from those folks lately.
The televangelists probably know what is going on but are embarrassed to admit it.